The Shadow Ways
by Aleigh Walker
Summary: AU When Ginny finds herself in a Deatheaters dungen, she meets the most unlikly partner. Together they will have to pool their strength if they ever want to see Hogwarts again. Or anywhere else for that mater. DMBGW Restarted!
1. Unexpected Meeting

Hello! Jut a few things,

I of course do not own Harry Potter, I am simply amusing myself until the next book comes out.

I have taken a few,(hopefully a very few) liberties with the characters. Hopefully nobody seems too out of character,… but oh, well. If you see a major conflict with the real books, let me know and I'll try to fix it.. (ex, spells, spelling of names…) Please enjoy!

THE SHADOW WAYS

**Unexpected Meetings**

Ginny heaved a sigh, tossed the latest issue of the Daily Prophet, and got to her feet. Rubbish the whole lot of it. They should know by now, that simply because the dark lord was laying low, did not mean that he had decided to catch a port-key to the middle of the Bermuda Triangle. It was just a respite. All of last school year the public fought with the knowledge that he was back. Mass panic broke out. Many wizarding families had relocated.

She snorted, as if that was going to save them. All the while adults across the world looked to Harry to fix their problems. _If he did it once he can do it again_ was the common refrain. This was usually said as they packed their bags to live somewhere else until all this 'unpleasantness' was dealt with. Really, grown adults trying to force all of that responsibility upon a young teen.

She grabbed a dust rag and started to swipe the counters and shelves down. At least this year she didn't have to worry about her OWL's again. Her fifth year had been rather hectic. Now that she was in her sixth year she could slow down a bit. Although she rather felt sorry for Ron, Hermione, and Harry, as this was their last and final year. They had their NEWT's to prepare for.

As she worked the doorbell jingled and she turned around to great the newcomer with a plastered on smile.

"Welcome to Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes where mischief is a work of art." Ginny felt her fake smile turn into an honest one when she recognized the new arrivals. She dashed down the isle and to the door to greet them.

"Harry, Hermione! It's so good to see you!" she grabbed Hermione and gave her a quick hug as she smiled brightly at Harry. "How was your summer? Did the Dursleys treat you ok Harry? Hermione did you bring Crookshanks with you? Are you staying with us until the start of the school year? What do you think about…" Ron interrupted her string of questions as he grabbed her around the middle and threw her over his shoulder and spun around.

"Ron!" she shrieked, "Put me DOWN!" she half yelled, half laughed as she watched the interior of the store whirl before her eyes.

"Not going to happen. You can't even say hello to your favorite brother after not seeing him for a whole month? Oh the pain! The agony!" he cried as he non to gently set her back on the ground and clutched his chest as if in pain.

"Of course I would, but Bill isn't here! All I see is an overprotective git who keeps trying to run off all of my boyfriends!" she retorted even as she hugged him in a warm welcome.

"Aww Ginny, your not still mad about THAT are you?" he glanced down at her as she frowned up at him with a disgusted look on her face, and her hands upon her hips.

"And WHICH that would you be referring to? The time you threatened to lock poor Dean Thomas in the vanishing closet if he ever looked at me? The notice on ALL of the message boards that promised vile mysterious and painful deaths, and or dismemberment to the males who dared to touch me. And then claiming that you had the entire backing of all of my brothers when you know full well that Charlie wasn't consulted." She was advancing on Ron as he backed up into a shelf of Portable Swamps.

"Or perhaps about the time you threatened that poor Hufflepuff err.. what's'-his-name with the disembowelment of the family kneasel if he ever touched me again?" Ginny's eyes were flashing dangerously at this point.

"Hey, he was touching you under your robes, I'll not apologize for that one. You should be happy I didn't kill the little rat!" Ron grumbled looking as irritated as Ginny as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"HE WAS TYING MY SHOE!" she yelled while waving her arms wildly. Ron shrugged one shoulder as if to say it didn't matter why he was there.

"Oh Ron," sighed Hermione. "Will you ever learn?" She shook her head in sympathy for Ginny's burden.

"What do you mean by that Mione?" Ron asked clueless as usual. Hermione sighed again. He turned to Harry

"You got any idea what she's going on about mate?" Harry saw Hermione start to scowl and quickly tried to change the subject.

"So how do you like working for the twins?" he asked Ginny in a desperate attempt to stem the upcoming argument between his best friends.

Ginny took the hint and ran with the conversation even as she was watching the byplay between her brother and Hermione with great interest. Harry got the feeling she was learning more than he was.

"Great, just great. Once Fred and George realized that; one, the boys buy more when I am here, and two they can spend more time inventing while they have someone to watch the store for them they have been on their best behavior towards me. My stuffed toys never go missing anymore and they haven't put permanent color additives in my shampoo for months."

"Did they do that often?" he asked curiously.

"Oh, about once every two weeks during the summer. They once turned it a really striking purple color, but mom wouldn't let me keep it. They said they were trying for blue, but it didn't react well with my natural color." She replied as she picked up the dust rag she had dropped in her excitement earlier.

There was a stunned silence from Harry and Hermione for a few moments.

"Did they pull stunts like that often?" asked Hermione looking at both Ginny and Ron with a stunned expression.

"Oh, yeah! You should hear what they did to Ron about three years ago. One morning when he went to brush his teeth they…" Ron clamped his hand over her mouth mid sentence.

"That's enough Ginny! I'm sure that they don't want to hear about that!" he said while nervously watching Hermione. Ginny struggled free.

"But Ron!" Ginny cajoled, "It was REALLY funny!" she gave a muffled giggle.

"If you tell them I'll have to tell dad exactly what happened to the water hose he was trying to fix." He threatened.

"Ok, ok, geez no need to get nasty about it!" Ginny grumbled.

"Err…, right, well anyway the three of us came down to see if you wanted to go to Florean Fortescue's to get some ice cream. My treat." Harry offered.

Ginny gave him a bright smile.

"That would be great!" she said enthused.

"After dealing with customers all day I could use a break! Just give me a second to close up the shop and I'll be with you." She went to the back of the store and started to close up for the day.

After totaling the contents of the register she emptied all of the money into a little brown bag and used her wand to write the amount upon it. She then turned to the fireplace and grabbed a dash of Floo powder and tossed it in.

"Gringotts Bank, Business Quarter, Deposit, Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes." She called out and waited a full three seconds before tossing the brown bag inside. She then turned to the three waiting seventh years who were browsing around the store while waiting for her.

"All done, I'll lock up as we leave." She announced as she herded them out the door before her. After the lights were off and the door locked she turned to Harry.

"Lead on great one. Ice cream awaits!" Harry and Hermione laughed while Ron simply grinned.

"I told you that she never turned down ice cream. She is simply unable to resist the call of the sweets." He teased as he threw his arm over her shoulders and started off down the street.

"Now you can tell us all that has been going on here at home. With Harry at the Dursleys.."

"For the last time! No more Dudley ever again." interrupted Harry with a fist raised victoriously in the air. Ron grinned at him and continued.

"And Hermione off in France helping spread the word around, and me in Romania with Charlie doing the same we want you to tell us what has been going on." He concluded as they drew close to Fortescue's.

After they all piled into chairs around a small table and ordered what they wanted Ginny proceeded to catch them up on all the happenings she knew about.

"Well, while living at home I don't learn as much as we did two years ago. However I have learned that Dumbledore has sent an emissary to try to talk the vampires, but no word on them yet."

"Do you think that they will join our side" questioned Ron eagerly. Ginny simply shrugged.

"I have no idea. I can't even find out who was sent as an emissary. I do know, however, that they are due back about a week before school starts back up." She broke off as their ice cream was brought to them and then started up again when they were alone.

Lupin has been actively trying to recruit some of the Werewolves, seeing as how the number of bites has tripled since HE has come back. Muggles mostly." She shook her head sadly

"They don't have the sense to stay inside during the full moon. Lupin thinks that HE has a squad of Werewolves that he takes and sets loose in the major cities during the full moon's. We can only speculate how many he has managed to make. We think he may be building an army of werewolves."

"Is the ministry still allowing the unjust prosecution of them?" Hermione asked with a frown. Ginny nodded.

"Yeah, with all of the new werewolves showing up everywhere fear has been running high. Even if the ministry wanted to do something to help them, I don't think that the public would allow it. Everyone is running scared." Harry snorted.

"And that only makes them feel inclined to join up with Voldermort," everyone at the table gave a small flinch that he ignored "because they think that maybe things might be better under his control." He shook his head sadly.

"Their own fears are working against them." Hermione finished eloquently.

"Stupid gits." Ron summed up the whole sticky mess as he took a large bite out of his chocolate sundae.

"Their was also some kind of response from the Giants, but I have not been able to figure out what it was yet. Good or bad." Ginny said as she sipped from her Magical Mysterious Mix shake.

"That's it here, what about the three of you? What did you find out.?" For the next thirty minutes she listened to Harry, Ron and Hermione tell her about their summers.

When the four of them had finished all of their ice cream and Ron had finally wound down about the grand adventures he had been having with their second oldest brother Hermione caught Ginny's eye and arched one golden eyebrow at her in question. Ginny got the hint.

"Ron, Harry" she interrupted "Did you see the new Broom at Quality Quidditch? The Serenity. Not as fast as your Firebolt Harry, but it accelerates much faster and has supreme turn handling." Even before she had finished Ron and Harry had jumped to their feet.

"Coming Mione?" Ron called over his shoulder. Hermione shook her head

"No, Ginny forgot something back at the store I'll walk with her to get it, and then we will join you in a few minutes ok?" she said while looking intently at Ginny.

"Yeah, the twins wanted me to bring the monthly sales reports home tonight. But I forgot them when you showed up." Which, Ginny reasoned was the truth.

The boys, while on a normal day MIGHT have noticed something strange, were to preoccupied with the thought of a new broom to gaze at to notice anything strange about their behavior. They promised to meet them in about twenty minutes or so. And as soon as the boys had turned the corner Hermione turned to Ginny with an expectant look.

"So," she said, "how are your lessons going?" she asked eagerly. Ginny gave a huge smile.

"Not so bad, last week he told me that he was going to stop teaching me and if I wanted to learn anything else, I had best find someone else to teach me." Ginny finished proudly.

"And that was a GOOD thing?" asked Hermione incredulously. "How!" Ginny laughed.

"It's simply his way of saying that I have learned just about everything he can teach me." Ginny stated smiling.

"I tell you I couldn't believe my ears when you said that you were going get Professor Snape to teach you Occlumency. It still amazes me that he even agreed to teach you." Hermione said while shaking her head at Ginny. "How do you ever put up with him?" she asked.

"We have a very simple agreement. He can be nasty, rude, and vile and I can not care. I learned that you can respect someone and still not like them. And as for him teaching me. I simply told him why I wanted to learn to protect my mind." Replied Ginny calmly.

"How did he react to that?" questioned Hermione.

"Well, at first he told me no, and that if I ever asked again he would curse me, give me detention, and deduct 100 points from Gryffindor. But that was when we had just gotten back from Christmas vacation. All of the Death Eaters had escaped Azkaban and we noticed the absence of our least favorite Slytherin. I think that Professor Snape was worried about Malfoy at the time. Although I can't tell you why. The rest of the school year was certainly a lot quieter without him creeping around." She said thoughtfully as Hermione frowned in concentration.

"Did you know, something about that didn't seem right to me either?" she asked. "Not that I particularly miss him mind you, but I mean Crabbe and Goyle even came back, and that was their last year. I honestly didn't expect them to finish out." Hermione frowned still half in thought as Ginny gestured at the time.

"At any rate we had best go if we want to meet up with the boys on time. If we're late they may get worried. You know how they can be. If we are five minutes late the entire order would be out trying to find us." Ginny growled at this clearly overprotective tendency of the males in her family.

Both of them rose as they left the ice cream parlor and started back to the twin's shop. Ginny looked back in the direction that the boys had left in. Hermione noticed.

"You still don't want me to tell Ron and Harry about you practicing Occlumency?" Ginny nodded and Hermione looked concerned. "Ginny, I still think that Harry, at least, would understand. I mean, he has the same fears about being possessed, especially after our fifth year. And as for Ron, well… I'm sure that if you explained really really well,…" she broke off as she saw the expression that Ginny pulled.

"Mione, you surely do have it bad." Ginny stated as she watched Hermione flounder in her attempt to convince herself and Ginny that Ron could be reasonable about Professor Snape. Or anything else for that matter.

Hermione flushed a dark red and faltered in her steps as she was careful to look at anything but Ginny.

"I'm sure I don't know what you are talking about Gin." She mumbled.

Ginny stopped in the middle of the street and hugged Hermione hard as she could while Hermione fought with her embarrassment. Ginny made her look at her before she spoke again.

"If my stupid git of a brother ever realizes how much he likes you, and what a great girl you are Mione, I would be thrilled to have you as a sister." Hermione blushed bright red at this.

"I… Well… That is… I don't… Umm… It wouldn't… Err… Thanks…" she mumbled while trying to cover up her embarrassment.

Ginny simply laughed and they started back down towards the shop. They walked on in silence broken only with a few calls to Ginny form other store keepers closing up for the day. After a few moments Hermione spoke up.

"Ginny, do you think.. that is … Is it possible…" she was saved from finishing her question by Ginny's decisive answer.

"YES" she replied. "I have no doubt. I only doubt his timing." She laughed. Hermione sighed.

"I really do, you know."

"I know."

"If he ever… I would. He only needs to ask."

"That's my git of a brother."

"Well I at least would like to…" Hermione trailed off as the two turned the corner and became aware of the five figures in hooded capes in front of Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes.

One of them must have made a sound because all five of the wizards turned to face the two girls. Ginny caught a brief flash of a wand before she grabbed Hermione and tried to dart back around the corner they had just come around.

"PETRIFICUS TOTALUS" rasped a deep voice. The spell hit Ginny with full force and felt her arms and legs clamp together as she fell on her side to the paving stones.

"EXPELEARMUS" shouted Hermione as she pointed her wand at the wizard who had just preformed the full body bind on Ginny.

_No_ Ginny tried to yell, _Run, get the to the Order there are five of them_.

"CRUCIO" Called another voice. Hermione ducked and the spell blasted past and struck the wall behind her. She opened her mouth to either yell for help or utter another spell when she was interrupted.

"SILENCIO" grunted one of the members and the spell struck Hermione. Her mouth opened in vain.

It would were off in a minute, but she had no chance against five armed wizards Ginny thought desperately. She gathered all of the knowledge she had gained from Professor Snape in the past six months and desperately forged an occlumency link with Hermione.

"_Run! Get to the Order!"_ She saw the indecision in Hermione's eyes. The desire to help, but her aversion to save only herself and leave Ginny behind.

"_RUN!"_ she shouted through the link with all of her might_. "You must LIVE to get HELP! GO!"_ she cried again.

Ginny saw the tears forming in Hermione's eyes as she nodded and turned and ran like the hounds of hell were after her. And reasoned Ginny, they were. Or so she thought at the time.

"Leave the Mudblood. We got what we came for." Ginny's heart froze.

Malfoy. THE Malfoy. The one who gave her that horrific book in her first year. Ginny raged inside her body, unable to do anything else.

She felt a hand reach into her robes and pull out her wand. Then the Luscious Malfoy walked into her view holding her means of revenge. She watched with a cold heart as he twirled her wand around between his fingers. When he was sure he had her attention he smirked. It was like watching Draco smirk, but with much more hatred, and pure evilness. She allowed her own hatred of him to shine through her eyes.

"Well, Well, Well. Look at you. Fierce little Mudblood lover aren't you." His voice oozed with vehemence. Ginny was vaguely aware of being thankful you couldn't shake in fear when under the full body bind.

"We'll just see how fierce you truly are when you come face to face with the Dark Lord." He laughed all the while twirling her wand between his fingers. He noticed her attention was on her wand.

"Ahh, you would like to have this back wouldn't you? Well, I'm sooo sorry to disappoint you but…" And with that he snapped her only chance of immediate revenge. Ginny watched in fury as the two halves of her wand dropped from his fingers and fell to the street.

"Well enough fun," And saying this Luscious Malfoy drew his wand and pointed it at her.

"STUPIFY" and the world went black.

FIRST CHAPTER DONE! YAY!

Please review if you want, but if not, thanks for taking the time to read! Next chapter already under way… maybe by the end of this week?

PS Thanks to my best friend who has to listen to my stories over the phone… you're the best SCOTTY!


	2. The House of Black Revived

**The House of Black Revived**

"Still no change?"

"No, not a single sign that she hears us."

"Oh, Remus what are we going to do? I've already lost Ginny, I don't think I can stand to loose another of the children. Surely she knows that we don't blame her? She is as much as a daughter as Ginny is. Their was nothing she could have done. She had questioned me before about the safety of allowing Ginny to work alone in Diagon Ally. Does she blame us for not being there to protect them?" Mrs. Weasly asked, her voice watery from tears.

There was a long pause in which Hermione could count her heart beats.

ONE…_Ginny was gone_. TWO…_There were five of them_.

THREE…_Only a broken wand_. FOUR…_She had fought back_.

FIVE…_They had taken Ginny_. SIX…_Ginny had told her to run_.

SEVEN…_She had left Ginny_. EIGHT…_Nothing she could have done_.

NINE…_It was all her fault_. TEN…_All her fault_. ELEVEN…_All her fault_.

"I think," Lupin said slowly, "that she blames herself more than anything else. The Muggles have a word for it. Survivors Guilt. Why don't we let her rest some more and we will be back when she is awake. Besides I think you need to check in on Bill. He was starting to pack and said he was going to… Hello Harry, going to see Hermione?"

Lupin had paused mid sentence to greet Harry who was on his way into her room. Hermione heard him mumble something in quiet undertones as she turned on her side to face the wall. The dingy walls hadn't brightened much in the past two summers, and the blank canvas still hung on the wall. The first summer they had learned about the Order, Ron and Harry had slept in this room.

During the lull in Deatheater activity most of the Order had dispersed throughout England, to avoid the suspicion of anyone watching the habits of the members. After Ginny… Dumbledore had given the order to move most of the Order back into the house at number twelve Grimmauld Place. Hermione had been unable to enter the room she had shared with Ginny, and nobody had pushed her.

She heard the door handle turn and resolutely shut her eyes. She didn't want to have to talk to anyone just yet. She felt the side of the bed dip as Harry sat down beside her. For many moments he was quiet. She listened to his breathing. So steady, so certain.

"She wouldn't have wanted this you know." He said so softly she wasn't sure he was talking to her or himself. She remained silent.

"Ginny would have hated the inaction as well as you taking on all of the blame." Harry spoke on a sigh. Hermione found she had trouble swallowing a lump in her throat. He was right. But still.

"I know what it's like to be the only one to walk away. I dragged Cedric's body out of that graveyard. I had a way to talk to Sirius all that school year. I had the means to save him, if only I'd remembered, then we never would have been in the Department of Mysteries at all. I know what it is like to keep being the only one to walk away while everyone else dies around me. I live in fear that before this is over I'll be the only one left." Harry's voice cracked as spoke, and she could feel the pain he felt over his supposed failures of the past. But he still didn't understand.

"But you never left them." She said, whisper quiet. "You were there until the end. I was not." Her voice broke as tears once again filled her eyes only to drip down onto the pillow.

"Mione…" Harry started uncertainly.

"I left her. I left her all alone." Came her agonized whisper

Harry didn't say anything else, he just patted her shoulder and let her cry herself to sleep.

8

When Ginny awoke next she was lying on her side in an uncomfortable position. It took all of five seconds to remember what had happened in Diagon Ally. Grimacing she pushed herself up and glanced around.

She seemed to be in a very dimly lit cell. A small patch of gray light fell through the ceiling and did very little to illuminate the dark corners of the small room. She stood up and grimaced at the pain. Lying on a stone floor wasn't the best way to take a nap she surmised.

She took a few steps and then was drawn to a halt. Startled she looked down and saw that they had clasped a small silver chain to her left ankle. It sparkled brightly in the very dim light. Great. Magical. Ginny let a few of Bill's favorite cuss words slip out.

"I wouldn't have thought that the youngest weasel would have known such a word. Such un ladylike behavior." The raspy mocking voice came out of the opposite corner.

Ginny started and jerked her head to the source of the voice.

"Come out where I can see you." She demanded. If she was trapped down here she would at least see who it was.

A very familiar mocking laughter filled the air as she hear a rattle of chains and her fellow prisoner showed himself.

Ginny gaped. There was no denying she new that gaunt figure. True, his hair hadn't been cut and he looked to be in need of a shave, but it was defiantly him.

"MALFOY!" she choked. What would HE be doing here.

Draco Malfoy let loose another peal of semi-demented laughter that echoed around the room.

"No," he said, "I'm no Malfoy." Ginny could do naught but gape at him.

"What do you mean, not a Malfoy?" exploded Ginny. "Who do you think you are, if your not a Malfoy?" she asked thunderstruck.

Their was a moment in which Draco simply stared at her. Then he smirked

"Call me Black. Draco Black."

Hi mina! waves This is a short chapter, but it seemed to want to end there… so who would I be to argue.

I'm sorry about the MANY problems from the last chapter… blushes I'll be better from now on. The next chapter should be posted in about three days or so. Thanks for reading!


	3. Unexpected Alliances

Wow! I had forgotten how long it has been since I have updated. Sorry. Well here is the next chapter, I hope you enjoy!

**Unexpected Alliances**

Ginny stared at the neighboring blond ex-Slytherin in confusion as multiple possibilities swirled inside her head. Was Draco was denying his family? Could HIS family be denying HIM? What if he was put here simply to gather information from her? For that matter, WHAT was she doing here in the first place? Why did they even WANT her? She felt her stomach start to clench with fear and frustration.

"Kind of denies all reasoning doesn't it? Poor little Gryffindor. Don't let yourself strain your brain. If you want to live down here, you are really going to need it." Draco's rusty, mocking, voice filled the air and echoed off the stone walls.

Ginny stared blankly at him, her mind still struggling to adjust to this new development. He would be the last person she would have expected to find inside a Deatheater dungeon. The heir to the whole Malfoy legacy simply did not belong here. Deatheaters, Dark Arts, blond hair, and oily personalities, simply were their family trademark. It was part of their genetic structure.

She blinked rapidly, desperately trying to decide what exactly he was doing here. Draco's chains rattled slightly as he shifted to lean back on the gray prison wall. Ginny jumped slightly at the sound of moving chains and watched him watch her.

"So, ho.." she cleared her throat, "How long have you been in here?" she asked trying to hold his piercing gaze. Chills crawled up her spine as she watched him stare un-blinkingly at her with his silver gray eyes. She had a cat once that would look at her like that. Piercing, half-feral, and guarded.

"They don't exactly leave a calendar in here. You tell me. I have been here since Christmas. How ever long that is." Draco growled into the semi-darkness watching her intently.

Ginny nodded as she processed this new information and noted the state of his person. His pants were slashed along the legs in several places exposing several healing scars underneath. Angry red gashes ran along his bare chest and arms as well. It looked as if he had just lost a battle with a large angry cat. She grimaced in sympathy as she noticed the unnatural redness in the cuts. Several of those lacerations needed immediate medical attention.

"Well?" grated Draco. Ginny felt heat rush up the sides of her face. She had just been caught staring at the partially clothed form of Draco Malfoy. The same git who had tormented Harry, Ron and Hermione for years. Ginny fought her blush as she resolved not to be embarrassed.

"Well what?" she asked defiantly. It was not her fault he was walking around without his shirt. Even malnourished, he was good looking. In an arrogant, stuck up, insulting, short tempered, you don't deserve to lick my boots, way. Stupid git.

Draco pushed off the wall he had been resting on this entire time to rapidly advance towards her. Ginny backed up a step as he hit the end of his chain length just over three-quarters way into the room.

"Tell. Me. How. Long. I. Have. Been. Down. Here." He bit out savagely. His whole body pulled taunt against the chains, his eyes snapping with fury and impatience. She suddenly realized that he truly did not know how long he had been down here. She could not help feeling sorry for him.

"Oh," she said softly. "About six and a half months. It was July 18 when they grabbed me." She watched several emotions flash by on his face. Disbelief. Anger. Resolve. Then, astonishingly, laughter rang out between them. He tilted his head back and laughed until the might of it sent him to his knees. She watched him uneasily until he finally stopped laughing. He stayed unmoving on the ground for a minute before he looked up, met her gaze again, and grinned.

"They promised me that I would break within a month when they first put me in here. They had my inner clock so messed up that I could not know if I had out-lasted them. That is good news." He got to his feet still wearing a half-mad grin. She reflexively stepped back closer to the wall, further from him.

"Calm down. If you die down here, it will not be by my hand. I have more important things to worry about." Draco drawled as he watched her skittish movements.

"Why should I trust your word?" asked Ginny defiantly. "For all I know you have been placed down here to gather information from me." He watched her with blatant amusement.

"What could you possibly know, that I would have agreed to go to this extreme, to find out?" came his amused query.

What did she know. What did she know? She started to pace up and down her wall, out of distance of Draco. Just in case. None of this made sense to her. It had become obvious that they were after her specifically in Diagon Ally. They had not chased Hermione because they had her. But WHY her?

"I don't know." She finally admitted.

"You don't know?" he asked incredulously.

"No," she gritted out between her teeth. "I don't know. I don't know where I am. I don't know why I am here. I don't know why they picked me. I don't know why I am in here with you. I don't know how long I can stand to be in here with you! I DO NOT KNOW!" she finished yelling at him, her eyes snapping with fury, as he watched this emotional outburst dispassionately.

"Well. OK then." He answered as he stooped to pick up his chain. Ginny watched as he walked back towards the chain's anchor point gathering up the slack as he went. Ginny saw red.

"OK then?" she mimicked.

Draco gathered a bit more of the slack into his hand and then looked over his shoulder at her. She saw his hated smirk appear for the first time.

"OK then." He repeated. Draco turned his back to her and kept gathering slack, effectively ignoring her.

"DRACO MALFOY," she yelled starting to march towards him. " You have to be THE biggest, most annoying, and simply the wor…" she trailed off mid-sentence as she was suddenly nose to nos.. er chest of her exceptionally annoyed male cellmate. Oh, he was taller than she remembered.

"I will say this only ONCE more." he snarled, as he wrapped his hand around her jaw and jerked her head up to look into his fiercely scowling face. "My name is Draco BLACK. Not, and I repeat NOT Malfoy. Can you get that fact into your simple mind?" he hissed venomously as he shook her for emphasis.

She nodded and he released her. She retreated to her side of the cell, out of his reach, before she felt safe enough to ask her next question.

"Why would you Fath…" she trailed off at his sinister scowl. Well, that was not a question that was going to be answered, or asked, today, she thought.

"Why did you pick the last name of Black?" she asked instead.

"My mothers maiden name is Black." He responded after a moment's silence.

"Oh. I had forgotten."

"Yeah. Well, so had I." he restarted the gathering of the slack in his chain.

Ginny watched him as he halted three feet away from the wall and folded the slack in half once to form a long loop. Then, to her amazement, he started to swing the loop around in varying circular patterns. Over the head, around the left, to the front, wrap around the back, and across the side. The loop of silver started to spin so fast it blurred. She watched as he began to bend and twist as the silver line blurred the air all around him.

"What are you doing?" she finally asked. He straightened and the chain slowly whirled to a stop.

"Training. Something you should be doing too. They have taken a liking to losing werewolves down here every so often." He pointed to the scrapes. "I got these from them. But, no bites." He shrugged. Ginny simply gaped.

"The chains may be magically unbreakable, but everyone knows the best metal for enchantments is silver. Thus I, or we, have a potential weapon. Found out by accident. A few solid hits with that chain and most of the bastards will back down. After a parting swipe of course." He finished up with a demonstration of his whirling silver chain. Ginny tried not to be impressed.

He gestured towards her own chain and she found herself watching him as he demonstrated an easy side to side rotating swing. She picked up her chain and tried to mimic him. she soon fell into a rhythm and they practiced in silence save for the rhythmic swishing of the swinging chains.

They practiced until her arm hurt. They kept on and on, until she dropped her chain loop from her numb fingers. Then they worked with her other arm. She missed school.

When they finally stopped, it was because of a scraping sound at the far end of the cell. The only corner that neither she nor Draco could get to. Ginny watched as a stone slid out of place and a tray with two bowls came floating to the center of the room. The aroma of food was almost too much for her. Something smelt good. Her stomach growled.

She approached the tray at the same time as Draco did. Two bowls sat on the tray. One was full of an unidentifiable collection of stuff and gave off an unappetizing odor. The other was full of the best-looking beef soup she had ever laid her eyes upon.

She had reached a hand to take the spoon from the bowl of the soup when a hand grabbed on to her wrist. Glaring she tried to shake her and free. He held her wrist securely until she stopped struggling.

"That one is not for you." He stated firmly as he pointed at the bowl with the wonderful smell.

"That one is." He pointed to the bowl of lukewarm blob. Ginny glared at him.

"If you think that you're going to make me eat that... that stuff." She gestured to the unappetizing bowl. "Then you are crazy. Don't expect me to quietly sit here with THIS as you eat better than me." She finished angrily as she pointed to the bowl with the appetizing smells.

Draco raised one eyebrow mockingly as he picked up the horrible looking mash and saluted her with his spoon. She watched with horrified fascination as he took a bite, swallowed and looked at her.

"You really don't want that other bowl as much as you think you do. It's poisoned." He handed her a second spoon and held his bowl out to her. She looked at it dubiously.

"My advice, don't chew, just swallow. You taste less that way." He said. Ginny felt her stomach twist in revolt as he demonstrated his own advice. She looked longingly at the other bowl.

"Are you sure that the other one is poisoned?" she asked as she tried to avoid the bowl he held towards her. The stuff smelled even worse that it looked.

"Yeah, it is defiantly poisoned. The entire meal is laced with Rackonic powder." Draco shook his head. "Not a pretty way to go. If you get that desperate, just ask me to snap you neck." He offered magnanimously.

Ginny shuddered. Rackonic powder was a random mixture of all of the Wizarding World's most lethal plants. Due to the indiscriminate ratio of the mix, it was impossible to produce up a cure, as many of the antidotes were deadly. To successfully create the anti-toxin you had to have the exact proportions of the original mix. The survival rate of Rackonic was one. Only one person had ever lived after being poisoned with Rackonic.

She sighed and decided she was not hungry.

Well, thanks for reading! I should have the next chapter up within a week. Give or take…

Ja-ne!


	4. Look at the Time

Wow! Another chapter and it didn't even take me weeks to finish! Go me!

I want to thank everyone who has reviewed. It really means a lot. Expecially as you bear with me. I have not actually written anything in quite a while and it is taking me some time to get back to my old standard. Hopefully the quality keeps going up.

A special thanks to my buddy Scotty who took time away from listening to the Half Blood Prince to listen to my story. (waves)

As always if you see a major problem please let me know, and enjoy!

**Look at the Time**

When she finally awoke, Hermione noticed she was once again alone. The bottom end of her bed shook. Or almost alone. Crookshanks sat at the foot of her bed watching her expectantly. She ignored him.

Or, more accurately she tried to. She felt the bed tremble as he made his way up to her face and patted her cheek with his paw. His low rumbling purr filled the room as he tried to get her up. She ignored him as he patted her nose, licked her cheek with a rough tongue, and rubbed his head against her hair. He didn't take kindly to it.

"MERRROOOWW" Hermione shot up in bed, rubbed the ear he had just meowed into, and scowled at her cat. He looked decidedly satisfied. He now lay curled up on the pillow she had just vacated, looking supremely unconcerned if he had just disrupted her hearing for life. Just like a cat.

Hermione glared down at her cat for a few moments before she realized that, what he wanted, he got. Giving up she rose out of bed and got dressed. She did not know what time it was but someone was bound to be awake. And if not, that suited her fine. She had exited her room and was on the way to the kitchen when she heard voices coming out of the upstairs sitting room.

Hermione stepped up close the cracked door so she could hear what was going on. From the sound of things the entire Weasley family was in there and arguing. Violently.

"Boys," Wailed Mrs. Weasley "You can't. You just simply can't." her voice broke and she started to sobb.

"We're going and you can't stop us. They took Ginny." Yelled one of the twins. "Right up off the street. In front of our shop. We should have been there." Finished the other..

"Fred, George" Mrs. Weasley pleaded.

"No mother, the twins are right. We ARE going and you can't stop us." Hermione had never heard Bill sound quite that grim before. Normally one could almost hear him laughing through every word he said. Now, Hermione only could hear the underlying steel of his determination and the potential wrath of vengeance.

"I… I jus.. just can't stand to loose any one else." She Hiccupped. "Please. Please don't do this." It was hard to understand Mrs. Weasley through her tears.

"Your Mother is right. This is not the time to go running off with ill conceived plans of vengeance." Mr. Weasley's voice was sterner than Hermione had ever heard before.

"You can't just ask us not to do anything!" shouted Bill. He was making considerable racket clomping back and forth across the floor in his sturdy boots. "We can not abandon her. She is our SISTER!"

"AND SHE IS OUR DAUGHTER!" Roared Mr. Weasley "But I will NOT go running about trying to get myself killed uselessly. When we find out where she is, you will all be with us when we go to take her back. But until then, nobody will be off making calls at Deatheater's doors. DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR?" there where a few grumbling resentful consents. Hermione released a breath she didn't realize she was holding.

"But how do you figure on finding her? How do we know that she is still alive?" Ron's despondent question rang like a death knell inside the room and pinched Hermione's heart. How WOULD they know. And if they knew, how to find her. Then she knew, or, more accurately remembered.

She took a deep breath and pushed open the door. To her surprise the Weasley's were not the only ones in the room. She spied Lupin and Harry with them as well. Everyone else had spread out all over the small sitting room. Mrs. Weasley was sitting in a squashy armchair crying while Mr. Weasley stood protectively over her patting her shoulder and murmuring comforting words into her ear. Lupin, who was the only one to notice Hermione slip into the room, leaned against the wall close to the door. Hermione noticed that he had his wand in his hand, which he kept concealed by his shabby coat. He was obviously ready to stun the younger generation if they failed to listen to reason.

Fred and George were propped against the window frame, both staring moodily outside watching the rain hit the glass pain and slowly slide down. Hermione sighed, how appropriate it was to rain now. Charlie was still pacing back and forth in front of the twins. Bill had his back to everyone else in the room, head was bowed, and his arms were spread, braced against the right wall with his clenched fists. Every now and then Hermione could see them flex in frustration. On the small loveseat was someone she had not expected to see, Percy. He sat hunched over, elbows on his knees, head buried into the palms of his hands. Hermione watched as a drop of moisture slide around his wrist and fall to the floor soundlessly. She looked over to the left side of the room and saw Ron and Harry. Ron sat on the floor against the wall with his arms wrapped around his knees and his head bowed in defeat. Harry watched on helplessly beside him.

She took another step into the interior of the room and cleared her throat. All eyes turned upon her. Hermione glanced at Ron and Harry and almost gasped when she saw the empty look in Ron's eyes. She twitched, nervous to be the absolute center of attention.

"I think that I know how to find Ginny." She finally stated.

The reaction was strong and immediate. The Weasley's eight pair of lifeless eyes suddenly sprang to life. They had hope. They waited impatiently for her to continue.

"Ginny was taking occlumency lessons from Professor Snape." Hermione braced herself for the coming reaction.

"WHAT?" Yelled everyone else in the room, including Lupin and Harry.

The next few moments were so full of questions from everyone Hermione had trouble sorting them out. It was Lupin who finally came to her aid, and quieted the demanding questions to give her time to answer them. She smiled gratefully at him.

"Ever since last Christmas Ginny has been taking secret lessons from Professor Snape. The fact that You-Know-Who was back worried her. She knew that Harry had gotten lessons from him, and she decided to see if he would teach her to close her mind as well.." Hermione stated, watching Ron and Harry hoping that they would forgive her for not telling them.

"After some persuasion he relented and she began to take weekly lessons from him. Over the summer she was to keep in contact with him using occlumency to expand her control of it. Maybe the professor can find her. Or maybe she can contact him and tell him where she is." Hermione finished weakly. The response to her proposal was instantaneous.

"I'll go call Severus now." Lupin pushed off the wall he was leaning on, pocked his wand, and started for the door. He gave Hermione's shoulder a small squeeze as he passed her too exit the room. She flashed him a small smile. Percy stood up and headed for the door as well.

"I'm going to go talk to the Minister. This will never happen again." He gave Hermione an oddly formal bow before he too vanished down the hallway. At the window one of the twins snapped to attention.

"C'mon Fred I have an idea." The twin, she assumed it was George, tapped his brother on the shoulder and they both started for the door. They paused long enough to ruffle Hermione's hair as they passed by. "Good one Mione!" one of them called over his shoulder at her as they walked down the hall to the stairs.

"Oh, what am I doing just sitting here!" Cried Mrs. Weasley. "Oh, everyone will be hungry soon." And with that she grabbed Hermione in a bone-crushing hug and hurried out and downstairs to the kitchen. Mr. Weasley stood behind for a moment.

"Well done Miss. Granger. Well done indeed." He smiled fondly at her and patted her on the shoulder. Then he too was gone.

"Well Bill," Charlie poked him in the side. "You and I need to be outside on a day like today. Meet you in the garden in seven minutes." He said while starting for the door.

"Make it five." Growled Bill rubbing his side.

However when they got to Hermione they stopped like the rest of the family. Hermione stared at them, surprised when they each took a knee before her. She watched incredulously as they each withdrew their wands and presented them handle first. She glanced over at Ron in confusion he nodded his head encouragingly. She gingerly took hold of the wands.

"We herby swear an oath of brotherhood. As long as there is life within our bodies, you will never stand-alone or apart. If you require help, all you need do is call. We will answer. Do you accept?" Bill and Charlie spoke in tandem.

Hermione felt the prickle of magic that ran up her arms as the two oldest Weasley brothers swore the Oath of Brotherhood. She felt the magic building up inside of her demanding a response. Tears welled up in her eyes.

"I do so accept." She answered solemnly. All at once the rush of magic was gone and Hermione felt the bands of magic wrap around the three of them for a moment. Then all was normal. She took a shaky breath.

"Well, see ya around little sister." Laughed Charlie as he gave her a quick hug. "Common Bill. We still have a meeting." Called Charlie.

"Yeah, Yeah, I'm coming." Bill winked at Hermione and grinned. "Welcome to the family." He turned to join Charlie as they exited the door still bantering back and forth.

"Do you think it will take me longer than six minutes to wipe the walls with you?" teased Bill.

"Five minutes? I'd like to see you do it at all Bank Boy." Growled Charlie.

"Dragon Boy." retorted Bill.

Hermione listened to their voices fade down the hall before she turned to face Ron and Harry who were the only ones left inside of the room.

"I … I don't understand. Why is everyone so pleased with me? I didn't find Ginny. This may not even work." She turned to Harry who was grinning at her.

"I think Mione," Harry started. "That they are grateful to you for giving them hope. Well, that and everyone was really worried about you." he gathered her into a hug. "It's nice to see you up and about." He grinned. "Now, Mrs. Weasley was going to make something to eat. And I'm starving." And then he was gone, leaving her alone with Ron.

"Ron?" she said tentatively.

"Yeah?" he sighed, not even looking at her.

Hermione bit her lip. This was what she had dreaded since she woke up. Ron would hate her forever now. This was why she had hid from for so long. Hate she could handle. Ron was usually one violent emotion or another. But this. This resigned tolerance was something she could not live with. Her vision started to blur.

"I'm sorry." She whispered. "I'm so very sorry." She turned to follow everyone else out the door when Ron's voice stopped her.

"What? What are you sorry for?" Ron's toneless voice made her turn around.

"It was all my fault. It was my idea to go back to the shop. I wanted to talk to her. I'm sorry I left her. I'm sorry that you hate me…" she trailed off as Ron stepped up close to her and grabbed her shoulders.

"Hate you?" he whispered. "How could I?" he groaned as he pulled her in close.

Hermione stood perfectly still as his arms wrapped around her as he pulled her in close. She hardly breathed for fear of breaking this spell. She finaly, slowly, raised her armsup to wrap around his middle and placed her head on his chest. Ron tightened his arms and lowered his forehead to her shoulder, effectively wrapping around her in support. She felt something in her chest loosen. He didn't hate her. Tears of relief welled up behind her closed eyelids.

"All I can think about is that Ginny was taken, and almost you, while I was looking at a stupid broomstick." He whispered as his arms tightened convulsively. "I should have been with you Mione. You have nothing to apologize for. If anyone needed to apologize, it would be me." He murmured into her shoulder.

"Ron?" she whispered as he lifted his head up to look her in the eye.

"Yeah?" he was searching her eyes intently. His gaze dropped to her mouth.

"Its not your fault." She tilted her head up to look at him and nervously licked her lips.

"It's not your fault either." He said as he slowly lowered his face to meet her upraised one.

Just as Hermione's eyes drifted shut the sitting room door banged open to reveal Harry Potter; The Boy Who Was Going To DIE. Ron jumped back from her so fast she swore that she heard a sonic boom. She gritted her teeth in annoyance. So close. So CLOSE.

"Oi, guys you had better hurry Sna… Wow.. sorry." Hermione ground her teeth again. He didn't look sorry. He was grinning. She was going to kill him. When she got through with him there was going to be nothing left for You-Know-Who.

"Umm, anyway," he continued grinning. "You better get downstairs in a hurry. Snape just arrived. They have him cornered in the kitchen." Harry, Hermione noticed, was enjoying that fact a bit much.

"Right. See you downstairs." Ron said loudly passing Harry.

When Ron was gone Hermione stalked up to Harry.

"Er… Sorry Mione I didn't kno..Yeowww!" Harry finished on a yell as he grabbed the shin she had just kicked. She left Harry still hopping about as she stormed downstairs muttering irritably about Ron being next.

"Yesh.. Girls sure are moody." He grumbled as he followed everyone down to the kitchen.

At the doorway to the kitchen Hermione found herself walking into a room full of arguing people for the second time that day. Snape was literally cornered by four of the Weasley boys. Bill, Charlie, Fred, and George were all standing between him and the exit. Hermione thought that he was handling himself reasonably well, not a cower in sight. Snape was, in fact, berating them for being stupid.

"You simple minded bunch of Gryffindor's. What do you mean, 'If she is alive'? Of course she is alive. Just look at the clock." Snape waved his hand in the general direction of Mrs. Weasly's famous clock.

She turned to look at the clock along with the rest of the room. The hand with Ginny's name on it still rested directly upon deadly peril. She stared at it for a moment before it dawned upon her.

Ginny was still ALIVE.

Hope to see you soon!

Aleigh


	5. Driving Forces

Driving Forces

In all of her life, Ginny had never been so bored. As the youngest of the seven Weasley children, she was used to something always happening. Fred and George were usually getting into trouble, or causing it. Bill and Charlie were always good for a few thrilling stories, with themselves as the heroes of course. Ron always seemed to be discussing some secret with Hermione and Harry; and thus very interesting to spy on. Percy, well, Percy was always good for a laugh. Albeit, at his own expense.

Much to her dismay she was not at home in her room at the Burrow; nor was she in the girls dormitory at Hogwarts. She was, unfortunately, stuck in a dimly lit excuse of a dungeon. Stuck down here with, of all things, Draco for company. At this moment she lay on her back, with her legs propped up on 'her wall', counting the stones. Sad truth was, neither her heart nor her mind were completely in it. She kept zoning out after counting each stone.

1,485… They should really paint the walls. Gray got boring to stare at all the time.

1,486… Blue. Blue would be nice. Or, perhaps red and gold. Just like Hogwarts.

1,487… Green and silver were out of the question.

1,488… Colors were not the only thing out of the question.

1,789… It was really quite a shame.

1,714… He could be half-nice if only he would let himself.

1,798… She was not going to think about him anymore.

1,987… Not about how he could have let her die of poison.

1,988… Not about his hollow eyes when he demanded to know the month.

1,990… Not about how he looked with his shirt off.

1,891… Not about… hang on… 1,891?

"Drat!" she grumbled. Lost count again. Merlin's Beard. She was bored to tears!

"What is it this time?" came the sardonic drawl from the other side of the room.

"I lost my place again. At this rate I'll never find out how many there are." She grumped.

"6,539." came Draco's immediate reply.

"How do you… oh. Never mind." She grumbled.

She often forgot how long he had spent down here. Six months. That was a long time to survive locked up inside this dismally gray room with no company. Honestly, she was surprised that anyone could have lasted that long. If she spent one week down here she was going to be completely batty. Lock her up in St. Mungo's. Off her rocker. Gone to fly with the Honkypoffs. Er.. Hunklypuf. Hicklyponk? Drat. If only Luna were here. She could probably help her add to the list of random things. Good help was so hard to find these days.

"I'm going nuts. The boredom is killing me.' She whined as she sat up and turned to face her fellow cellmate.

He was laying half propped up against his wall and, as usual, watching her. She twitched. He was always watching her. It was reminding her of a wild animal stalking its prey. It made her wonder just how stable his mindset was. She knew that if he finally snapped; she could remain out of his reach, but still, she found it positively unnerving. Even when she paced across her side of the room, his eyes would follow her. Couldn't he find something else to do? Count the stones on his side of the room perhaps?

"Why do you keep on staring at me?" she finally demanded.

"You are the only thing in this room I do not have memorized yet." He replied shrugging one shoulder.

"Listen Mal… Bla… Dra… what am I supposed to call you now anyway?" she huffed in irritation.

"Superior works for me." Drawled Draco.

"Superior!" she mimicked angrily as she folded her arms across her chest. Over her dead body she thought furiously. He apparently accurately deduced how likely she was to call him that.

"Well, I suppose that would be a bit much." He allowed grandly.

Ginny scowled at him 'a bit much'?. Why did she have to be stuck down here with this arrogant git for company? Why did she have to be stuck down here at all? She could have been making extra money, and saving up for those truly spectacular dress robes. But no; here she was, sitting with a half dressed arrogant pure blood. Waiting for a summons that would probably explain why she was here in the first place. A summons that she was, quite honestly, dreading. She had no wish to meet You-Know Who face to face.

She heard a sigh and a grumble from his side of the room. She jerked her mind out of the thoughts they had become ensnared in, and looked at him.

"Just call me Draco. No use standing on formality down here. With your Gryffindor mind, you are likely to forget anything else anyway." He shifted to find a more comfortable position to lie in.

Ginny growled at him. Pure-blood Prat. Slimy Slytherin. Flailing Ferret. Malignant Malfoy. Dumb Draco. Arrogant… Arrogant…. Humm… another word that started with 'A' to describe him. Drat. Nothing was coming to mind. Oh, well, as soon as she got her wand, got another wand, she could always call him a Jinxed Jerk. Oh Chocolate Frogs! She was going to die of boredom. It was, she decided, an unappealing way to go.

"What are you mumbling about over there Weasel." Draco's amused query only served to annoy her more than she had been.

"I have a name. Why don't you use it you stupid Ferret." She growled. There was a long pause before he finally answered.

"I don't know it." He grumbled.

"What?" snapped Ginny.

"Don't get all your feathers in a ruffle." He said raising his hands as if to stave off any attack she might launch. "I'm sure I heard it somewhere, I just never needed, or cared, to know. You were always the littlest Weasel, or the only girl of the Weasley family." He finished with an unapologetic shrug.

"Demanding, arrogant, insensitive, haughty,… Slytherin!" she snarled clenching her hands into tight fists. Oh, what she wouldn't give for her wand.

Draco let out a bark of laughter and arched one amused eyebrow at her. She gritted her teeth. If she could get to him, she would strangle him. He was annoying, rude, and mean. Moreover, damn him, she was not bored when she talked to him. That she acknowledged, was probably the worst part of this whole fiasco. She sat stuck in a dark room with Draco for company. And part of her was enjoying the bantering. She was going to turn him into a Ferret and give him to Buckbeak when she got out of here. And to top it off she was going to ask him a question before she had gotten sidetracked.

She rubbed her temples. Normally her mind didn't go galloping off in seven different directions at once. She was generally the most logical person in her entire family. So why couldn't she remember what she was going to ask him? She started to panic. Her mind was already traveling off on it's own. She started to gnaw upon her lower lip. She wouldn't last a month.

"It gets better eventually." Ginny glanced up at Draco's blank expression from across the room. "The mind eventually calms down and you are able to gain control over it once more. At first, the stress of not being able to freely move the body somehow over-stimulates the brain. Then, slowly, the residual panic slowly dies down and you once again are able to force it along patterns that are more normal. This is just the first stage of their subtle torture." Ginny listened to his cool, calm and rational voice.

"How do you always seem to know what I'm thinking?"

"You have an expressive face. It shows your every thought and emotion. Quite entertaining to watch actually. Besides, I went through it as well. I should be able to recognize the signs. If I made it with my mind in relatively one piece, you should to. In theory at least." He mused.

She whimpered. Great! The one who earlier, was calmly talking about snapping her neck still considered himself mostly sane. This was a good time to start worrying. Or maybe she had completely bypassed that point and needed to Floo back and catch it again. But did she even want to? Which brought up an interesting question. When would she consider herself insane? Didn't people who were insane never think that they were? So if she were to follow along that train of thought then as long as she thought she was crazy then she wasn't. Or, was she admitting she was crazy to keep from going insane?

"The trick is to find something that will keep you going when you want to give up." His lazy drawl jerked her out of her roaming thoughts again. "What are your driving forces normally?"

"Boredom and curiosity." She said glumly.

He whistled. "Not a good combination under the best of circumstances."

"I don't know if I can do this." she said in a soft voice. "How long did it take for your mind to settle down?" she asked in a desperate bid for a bit of assurance.

She should have known better than to ask for reassurance from a Slythern.

"Don't know. It might have been a week, or it might have been a month. Hard to tell. You will either make it or not." His detached voice did nothing to help her flagging self esteem.

"Did it ever occur to you that you could have said something supporting? Maybe like 'I know you can do it'." She asked bitterly.

She watched as he stood up and walked towards the center of the room to get a better look at her. For a moment, he stared at her in puzzled bemusement with his arrogant smirk that she remembered from school. She got the feeling that he viewed her as an interesting puzzle he had yet to find all of the pieces too. An oddity in his world put down here simply to relieve his boredom.

"I don't know if you will be able to remain sane. Why would you want me to lie to you?" he asked after a long pause. To her disbelieve he wasn't mocking her at all. He was genuinely curious.

"Well, for one thing, it would have made me feel a lot better." She grumbled. "I wouldn't be worrying quite so much if you had."

"What do you want Red? Do you want me to make sure you do not worry, or do you want me to help you live to regret this?" the knowing question grated on her nerves. She hated when she was wrong. She hated that he knew, that she knew she was wrong. He was waiting wordlessly for her answer.

"Can't I have both?" she was whining she knew. She hated to whine.

"The world doesn't work that way." He said as he waved his hand to encompass the room. "Evil wins. And if it doesn't, then the price is too high. Still evil is not defeated. _That_ is the way the world works." Draco smiled grimly.

"It doesn't have to be that way." Protested Ginny.

"No good deed goes unpunished." His dark words startled Ginny. For a moment she caught a glimpse at the madness he kept locked behind his normally expressionless eyes.

She wondered at how long it would be before he saw dark things moving deep within _her_ eyes. She wondered if he had been alone the whole time or if other people had passed through. The thought sent chills up and down her spine. To be alone was one thing. To watch other people come and go would be something else entirely. Perhaps, she thought; that would explain his strange, quasi acceptance of her presence. He was desperate for someone, _anyone_, to talk with.

That was a scary thought.


	6. Driving Forces part two

For everyone who dose not know, all author notes will be uploaded into the first chapter(Author Notes)from this time forward. Please read, if you're interested.

**Driving Forces (part two)**

_No good deed goes unpunished._

Draco's words still echoed around in Ginny's mind long after the conversation had ended. She wondered what had happened to make him believe so forcefully in that awful and wrong phrase. Or maybe, a small unwanted voice whispered, maybe he is the one who is right. Would Good eventually triumph over Evil? And if Draco was right; would the cost be too high to easily pay? What cost would be too high?

_Family_ The word tugged at hidden strings inside her heart. Would the Defeat of You-Know-Who be worth the loss of her family? Of Harry? Or Hermione, the older sister she never actually had? Would she willingly trade lives of everyone she loved to stop one of the world's greatest evils? To have to watch everyone else celebrate while she mourned the loss of her loved ones? Was she that strong? Could she carry on as Lupin did? Never complaining, but carrying around a deep and hidden pain.

She would _like_ to think that she could carry on with a semblance of his dignity. However, the truth always seemed to be more complicated than a simple yes or no. She prayed she never found out.

Ginny turned onto her side. She and Draco had lay down some time ago to get some sleep. She however was not quite tired enough to even attempt it. She hesitated too even guess how tired she would have to be to get some sleep on the solid stone floor. Looking over she spotted Draco's shadowy corner and wondered if he had gotten any sleep.

"Draco" no response.

"Draco" this time she whispered louder.

This however produced a reaction. There was a shifting in the shadows, and she heard him issue a long and loud sigh. A barely auditable string of words, which sounded suspiciously like terms she had heard Charlie use when a dragon stomped on his foot, soon followed.

"What?" he demanded irritably.

"Nothing, I just wanted to know if you were awake."

"Well I am now. So what do you want?"

"Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you up."

"Yes, well having one's name called will do that to most people."

"Are you always this grumpy when you wake up?"

"Yes, generally. Now why did you want to know if I was awake?"

"I couldn't sleep so I thought that if you weren't asleep we could keep each other company for a while. The silence down here is starting to freak me out a little." Ginny stretched some of her sore muscles and sat up to lean against her wall.

From across the room the sounds of movement and dragging chains echoed in the otherwise silent room. She watched Draco come out of his darkened corner. Ginny winced anew at the red welts over his body. His long dirty hair fell into his face and highlighted the gauntness of his face. He looked, she thought, much as Sirius Black had in his wanted posters. And about as sane.

"So now that we are both awake how shall we pass the time humm? His now familiar drawl mocked her. As usual. "How about I ring for tea and we will adjourn into the sitting room? Or, perhaps we can take time to stroll about the garden for a small chat?" His scornful words struck Ginny hard.

"I.." Ginny tried to clear the lump in her throat. "I am sorry I woke you up. Please go back to sleep. I won't bother you again." She said softly.

From across the room Draco grumbled and presumably took her at her word for he soon fell silent. Ginny wrapped her arms around her legs and rested her head against her knees. She had never felt so alone in all of her life. She had never _been_ so alone in all of her life. She wondered if her family even had a clue about where to start looking for her. Her eyes watered. She doubted it. Even she didn't know where she was. There were not exactly many landmarks in this cell. If only she had a way to…

Ginny's head snapped up as a thought occurred to her. Professor Snape. Perhaps she could contact him. They had studied long and hard together in productive, if not overly congenial, sessions. It was possible to contact…. Her thoughts trailed to a halt as the memory of one particular lesson came to mind.

It had been during one of the very last lessons she had taken for Occlumency. She and Professor Snape had been sitting in his office late at night. Ginny remembered that they were feeling especially pleased with each other after that particular lesson. Very tired and drained, if she recalled right, but pleased. She had finally managed to refuse him entry into her mind three times in a row. That, considering his great skill, was an impressive thing indeed.

"Professor, may I ask you a question?" she had requested quietly.

"Are you capable of asking an intelligent question Miss. Weasley?" his deceptively soft voice asked her in return. He had arched one eyebrow in a mocking manner.

"Do you think I will be able to keep You-Know-Who out? Is it possible for me to develop shields that he cannot break through?" she asked hopefully.

"That was a stupid question Miss. Weasley." He drawled. Ginny felt a smile start to break out upon her face. "Of course you cannot develop shields that will keep out the Dark Lord. Do not be absurd." Ginny felt the forming smile fall from her features.

"Sir, I am afraid I do not understand." She struggled to keep her facial expressions neutral. "I am able to keep you out of my mine already, and you are considered one of the top practitioners."

Snape looked down his long nose to stare at her derisively. Ginny struggled to maintain her neutral expression. She felt her eye twitch.

"The only person that the Dark Lord cannot defeat is Dumbledore. While you do possess a small measure of raw, untrained, and unreliable skill, you do not compare with Dumbledore." Snape was in full sneer by the time he was finished. Ginny forced herself to take a calming breath.

"Sir, if that is true how is it that your shields are enough to stand against him?" Calm, she must retain her calm.

She concentrated upon one of the rules he had set in stone when she had first started to take lessons from him. 'The moment she raised her voice or ceased to think rationally she would no longer receive lessons from that moment on.' His eyes glittered from across the desk. Whether from appreciation or mocking laughter she couldn't tell.

"My shields can't stand up against him Miss. Weasley. Yet he has not broken them. So you tell me. How do I do it?" he goaded.

Ginny's mind grabbed onto the challenging problem at once. She rapidly considered and rejected several possibilities. He had already admitted that his shields would not stand up to a direct assault. She seriously doubted that Voldemort would trust anyone who kept up shields against him. However, he would surely be suspicious if he discovered that someone of Professor Snape's abilities would not keep a mind block up at all times. Therefore, the question was how Snape kept his mental block up when it was sure to have been destroyed. It was almost as if he had…

"More than one mental block." She finished the rest of her thoughts aloud and watched the Professor to judge the accuracy of her theory.

He gave no acknowledgment of her accurate deduction aside from a tiny brief nod.

"So," she mused out loud. "it would be possible to connect to someone even as Voldemort was inside a smaller part of…" she broke off mid sentence as Snape interrupted her.

"Never, _never_ try to contact me while I am in the presence of the Dark Lord." Snape's rough velvet voice washed over her. "He can tell if I was in contact with someone else and would wonder that he did not know what the conversation was." Ginny felt the hairs on the back of her neck rise as he continued to hiss venomously at her.

"But Sir, I could not tell if you were in contact with someone else." Ginny stated reasonably.

"Yes, however, my soul is not bound to yours now is it?" Her heart froze at these words.

She had known that the dark mark provided You-Know-Who with a direct link to all of his Deatheaters, but she had no idea that he had imprinted his mark on their souls as well. She had felt ill upon hearing those words and had stood up to leave. When she reached the door his words made her stop and turn around to look at him again. He had several stacks of paper in front of him now. Presumably she had kept him form his grading.

"Not bad work on discovering how I avoided my mind being completely read. It took you to long to figure out, but at least you did." It was fairly obvious that he was already starting to put her out of his mind as he started to grade papers. Ginny gave him a cross between a smile and a grimace to acknowledge the backhanded complement.

"Thank you sir. So kind of you to say so sir." The sarcastic words slipped out before she could quite halt them. She stifled another sigh and turned towards the door.

"You were sorted into the wrong house Miss. Weasley. You are wasted in Gryffindor" Snap's absentminded words made her turn around again.

"Sir?" she questioned. "Which house do you suppose I should have been sorted into?"

"Why Sly… Hufflepuff of course. No other place for someone like you."

"I dare say you may be right Professor Sir." Ginny growled.

As she stepped out into the hall and closed the door, she heard Professor Snape give a loud snort. If it was out of disdain or humor, she couldn't say. One never knew with Snape.


	7. The Games We Play

If you asked a question look to the Author notes. Bye, and enjoy!

**The Games We Play**

"Oi… Oi Red. Wake up."

The words drifted around in Ginny's mind for a moment before they took root and registered. She spared a small portion of her brain to identify the speaker. Draco. What was he doing on a Muggle beach she wondered. For that matter, when did the hot sand get so cold? She unwillingly drifted from a deep slumber to find herself in a less than perfect sleeping position. She doubted her hip would ever take its natural place again. At least not with out help. And, she noted regretfully, no sunny beach.

She slowly cracked open one eye and spotted Draco in the middle of the room. He was watching her again. Drat. Didn't he know that made her nervous? He must have seen her open her eye because he smirked at her. Yup. He probably knew. Git. Didn't he have anything better to do than annoy her? Er.. never mind.

"Wah… What do you want ferret?" she grumbled sleepily. It seemed that she had only been asleep for a moment. Considering how long it had taken her to fall asleep, she really didn't want to wake up for less than a full scale rescue. Complete with a basket full of real food. Or some pumpkin juice. Her stomach rumbled. Damn. She was really getting tired of this dark, dank, and cold hole.

"Well, Well. It would seem that I'm not the only one who is grumpy when I wake up." Draco sounded entirely too cheerful. Ginny made a rude gesture that one of the twins had taught her when their mother wasn't looking. The Deatheater poster boy had the nerve to laugh at her. She growled at him.

"Go way." She mumbled as she pulled the sleeve of her outer robe up to cover her face.

"Would that I could Red. Would that I could. Now wake up." He demanded.

"Doona wanna anocmft ed. ." She mumbled.

"What?" Draco demanded. "Was _that_ supposed to mean? And pull your head out from under your robes."

Ginny threw off her outer wizarding robe and glared at the current bane of her existence. He looked unimpressed. If only she had gotten Snape to teach her his evil glare. Her glare fell short of maximum scariness; most likely this was due to her yawn. Oh, well. Win some, loose some. Now, if only she could win her freedom and loose the amazing bouncing ferret.

"I said," she grumbled. "That I don't want to get up. And do not call me Red. For the last time my name is Ginny. Ginevra Aurora Weasley. Use it." The stupid pride of Slytheren House still looked singularly unimpressed. Green was an ugly color anyway, so there.

"But Red is so much more descriptive. Not to mention, it would be much easier to remember. It doesn't matter though. Get up. You need to be alert." Draco's command grated against her pride. Since when did he get to decide when she needed to be up?

"Leave me alone Draco. I let you go back to sleep, so you let me." She grouched irritably. How dare he start to think he could order her around?

"This is different. Get up now." His face lost all semblance of mocking humor and replaced it with steel like determination.

He was not about to give this up she realized. He was serious about not letting her go back to sleep. Bloody Hell. She just wanted some sleep. Was that to much to ask?

"Ok, I give. Why is this different?" she demanded.

"You need to get up and go over to the wall." He instructed.

"You woke me up to go stand by a _wall_?" She was going to strangle him with his own chain. The arrogant prat was just asking for it.

"Just go and do it." He gestured impatiently at the wall.

Ginny pushed to her feet, tugged all of her clothing back into the right alignment and headed to her wall. She turned to look at Draco to discover that he had retreated to his wall as well. She could barely make out his silhouette in the ever present shadows.

"Now what?" she asked.

"Press your ear to the wall and listen very carefully. Then press your fingertips lightly to the stone as well. Tell me what you hear." She saw the shifting of his shadow as he followed his own advice.

As she did as he instructed she wondered about what she could possibly notice. For a long moment, she heard nothing. Just as she was sure that Draco had made all of this up to use as an excuse to wake her up she noticed something. Under her feather light touch, she felt the tiniest vibration of the stone. At that same instant, she noticed muffled sharp bursts of sound. She turned to Draco.

"What is it?" she asked, her curiosity running rampant.

"Deatheater Revel. What you hear and feel are the repercussions of them Apparating directly into the building." the clipped explanation caused her heart to stutter.

"What did you say?" yelped Ginny as her sleep befuddled brain jumped into full alert.

"Deatheater Revel." He explained. "Every so often the Dark Lord will call all of his minions to him and they basically have a huge party. The best part is that we get to be part of the entertainment." Ginny noticed that Draco's tone had gone flat and emotionless again.

She stood frozen by the wall, her fingertips still resting on the cold stone. Terror flooded through her system. It was one thing to find herself kidnapped and thrown into a dungeon with the likes of _him_; but now she would have to face a room full of Deatheaters. Because, surely if they were looking for a bit of fun, they were sure to want to see the newest 'entertainment' they had acquired.

"So… so what do we do?" she asked helplessly. "Do we know when they will be down here to get us? Are we supposed to just sit here helplessly and wait until they summon us?" agitated, she started to pace along the wall.

As she paced from corner to corner, she wrapped her robes tighter around herself and tried to contain her growing panic. One of the first things she had learned by hanging out with so many Auror's in the past few years, not to mention Ron, Harry and Hermione, was that blind panic would get you killed. She took several deep and calming breaths. She forced her fear to subside, and inch by inch, she regained a small bit of control over her emotions.

"You better now?" came Draco's flat voice. He was now standing in the middle of the room looking at her. As she stared at his expressionless face, she realized she would have to practice her own blank look if she wanted him to stop reading her so accurately. It was starting to get very annoying.

"Yes, what can we do to be ready?" she asked. Maybe with the two of them working together they might find a way to break out of this place.

"Don't get so excited. We can't break out." He shook his head in frustration.

"Well, what _can_ we do?" asked Ginny as she rolled her eyes in exasperation.

"First, come over here." He waved his arm to gesture the center of the cell. The one place that they could both reach. Ginny eyed him warily. From the moment she had awoke down here she had made it a point not to get very close to him. His eyes glittered in challenge. Drat, he knew. She was really going to have to work on that blank expression.

Ginny took another deep breath and stepped forwards. Nothing happened so she took another. As she neared the center of the room, she felt unreasonably exposed. When she finally stood before Draco she looked up and frowned at him. Did he have to be so tall? He smirked at her. Ohhh, what she wouldn't give to take that smirk off his face. He probably wouldn't smirk if she ki… er, killed him.

"Now what?" she asked as she tilted her head back to glare at him.

"Turn around and take a seat." He motioned her to sit at his feet with one hand.

"You have _got_ to be kidding." She seethed. Sit at his feet indeed. Even if she trusted him, she wouldn't do such a thing. And trust was one of the furthest things on her mind at the moment.

"Relax Red. If it's the only way, I'll even sit down first." He offered magnanimously

"Ginny." She ground out.

"What?" his drawl couldn't sound more board with her if he tried. She gritted her teeth.

"My name is Ginny." If she clenched her teeth any tighter she would break them.

"Yeah, I remember. Now sit." He instructed.

"Not until you call me Ginny." She insisted stubbornly

"Alright, if I call you Ginny do you promise to sit down?" he asked grudgingly

"Yes." She agreed after a moment.

"Good. OK then Red, if that's the way you want it. Ginny, _sit_." He commanded as his eyes laughed at her.

Ginny gaped at him in astonishment. How _dare_ he treat her like a dog? Sit indeed. If he thought that for _one_ moment that she would sit after _that_. He defiantly had another thing coming.

"Aah ahh. Don't even think about it. I did my half of the bargain; you follow through on your promise. Or do you not keep your promises." He taunted.

Ginny debated with herself for a moment. Honor promise, or beat down a stupid prat. Promise she grudgingly decided. Slowly, reluctantly, she sank to her knees. He was lucky that she set such store by her promises. But then, he probably already knew that. She watched warily as he sat down in front of her.

"Alright, now turn around." He ordered.

"Why?" she asked suspiciously.

"I'm going to braid your hair." He offered blandly.

"Your going to do what?" Ginny blinked a few times. He had to be off his rocker for sure.

"I'm going to braid your hair, now turn around." He repeated mildly vexed.

"Braid my hair? Why?" she asked a little bemused.

"So that when you are gasping for a breath to use on the next scream, you don't anciently inhale and choke on your own hair. It also prevents them from grabbing a single lock of hair and pulling. It's less painful the more hair they grab at a time." The grim words resonated throughout the room.

Ginny, still numb from the shock of his announcement, allowed Draco to turn her around. She knew that when she was brought before the Deatheaters would be bad; but knowing about it and taking steps to prepare for it were entirely different. She sat motionless as she allowed Draco to braid her hair.

The next few minutes had to be one of the strangest of her entire life. If someone had told her last year that she would have Draco Malfoy er… Black, to braid her hair she would have called St. Mungo's to have them admitted. Odder still, he knew what he was doing. He tilted her head up, and she felt him start the gentle tug and twist motion needed to French braid her hair. When he got to the end of the braid she heard a ripping of fabric. She tilted her head sideways to see him tear a strip out of a tattered piece of cloth, his old shirt she realized.

"Done." He said as he tied the end of her hair with the scrap.

"Thanks." Ginny mumbled as she felt the back of her head for her braid. It was surprisingly tight and straight. He had done this before. She wondered where and why he had learned to do it so well. She turned around to thank him only to see his back.

"You want me to braid yours?" she offered eyeing his shoulder length hair.

"Why if it wouldn't be too much trouble, and if you don't have any previous engagements." His sarcastic drawl made her long to smack him in the head.

Two things stopped her. One, he was quite a bit bigger than she was and, if she remembered right, he had good reflexes. The chances of her getting back to her corner unscathed weren't good. Two, it truly did feel good to have her hair braided and not waving around everywhere. And three, it would be a bad idea to piss off the one person she had to talk to down here. Control the temper.

She stifled her more violent impulses and started to running her hands through his hair to get the tangles out. And if she was just a _tad_ bit more rough than she would have been, well… what could she say? She grinned in satisfaction as Draco let out an involuntary grunt of pain. Revenge taken care of, she gentled her hands and was soon braiding at a quick pace.

Since his hair was still relatively short she finished soon. She was reaching for the tie he had ready and was handing over his shoulder when she noticed a flicker of movement upon the top of his left arm. Ginny blinked and looked closer. She watched fascinated as it crept over the shoulder and come to a stop upon his shoulder blade.

Ginny let out a coo of delight. It was a small green and silver dragon tattoo. She watched it and was entranced. It was about five inched long with the tail. Fascinated she poked it. It's reaction was to try to claw and bite at her. When this didn't work it blew fire at her; red and orange colored ink flowed across Draco's back.

"Oh, when did you get him?" Ginny asked completely oblivious to fact that Draco had gone perfectly still as she played with the tiny dragon.

"Just before Christmas." He gritted out between his teeth.

"He is so cute!" Ginny laughed as the small dragon chased after her finger.

It leaped and clawed and bit it's way across Draco's back as it chased Ginny's finger. The subtle ink flow was simply amazing. She laughed as it tripped over its own tail and started to slide down Draco's back. The little dragon dug his claws in, stoped his downhill slide, and lunged at the finger that Ginny held just above his head further up on Draco's shoulder.

"Would you stop that?" snapped Draco.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't realize you could feel him move, he is amazing." Ginny laughed as the little dragon crouched down and watched her; its tail was lashing back and forth waiting in anticipation. Much like a cat would.

"It's not _him_ I feel playing all over my back." He growled.

Ginny stared at him uncomprehendingly for a moment. Then she glanced down at her hand. The same hand that she had just trailed lightly across Draco's back. She stared at her hand in disbelief. Had she just ran her hand over the back of _him_? He was the single most Arrogant, rude, mean, and nasty Slythern that went to Hogwarts. Shocked, she gaped at the hand that had betrayed her.

"Sorry." She mumbled.

"Stay down we still have things to go over." He grumbled as she started to rise.

"Like what?"

"Like what to expect up there." He sighed.

For the next several minutes, he outlined what she could expect to see and, what could be done to her. Ginny felt her stomach turn. Surely, she thought, most of those things no human being could, would possibly do to someone else. He said something about how many Deatheaters that would be attending that snagged her notice.

"How many was that again? She asked.

"All of them. About three hundred or so."

Ginny's heart gave a leap. All of them, Snape would be there. She could either get him to rescue her, or at the least he could tell everyone where she was. She never would have thought that she would be anticipating the arrival of _him_. Life was very strange sometimes. Oh, well, she would be out of her in no time. Relief washed through her. She felt Draco grab a hold of her shoulders and stared at her intently.

"So there _is_ a traitor." He growled in victory.

Ginny froze. How could she forget that she had no idea which side he was truly on? She had no idea if her whole purpose down here was to flush out any traitor that the Order may have put in here. Draco was grinning like a maniac. She felt herself shrink as far away as his grip would allow. As he gazed at her, she saw his grin fade.

"Now you listen to me, and hear me well. When we get up there do not, I repeat _do not_, try to contact the traitor in any way. Do not look around for them; do not even look as if you might have a sliver of hope to survive this. Don't do _anything_ to compromise the traitors identity. They are the only chance we have of getting out of this alive. Do you understand?" he shook her for emphasis and she agreed. If only to get him to stop shaking her.

He released her and stepped away and started to pace. Every so often he would reach up to brush is hair back, only to drop them again as he remembered it was now braided. On one of his turns she happened to catch is eye. She sucked in a breath. His lifeless eyes were now anything but. She swore she saw life returning to his features.

_Life? _Whispered a little voice. _That is not life_. She watched the shadows move around within his eyes seeming to writhe and seethe. She felt an uneasy prickle dart up her spine. _That was not life, that was madness._

Just as she was about to ask him if he was ok, the she heard footsteps upon the stone ceiling. They got louder and louder until they finally stopped by the grate in the ceiling that let in their meager amount of light.

"Come, come, it is time to pay homage to your host." The watery voice giggled.

Ginny looked up and was unable to control her terror. It was time.


	8. Showtime

**Showtime **

Ginny listened to the movements above her head as the Deatheaters started to disabled all of the curses and alarms that locked the grate above them. Reflexively, she stepped back when she heard the framework squeak loudly in protest. She was stopped short when she found herself backed up against a hard form, Draco. She started to pull away when he grabbed her and pulled her back against his chest.

"Don't show fear. If you do, it will only be worse." Draco warned as breathed the words into the air directly above her head. Ginny started to tremble.

"I can't help it." she let out a choked whisper.

"Yes you can. Only allow the Dark Lord to see your fear. Nobody else, do you understand me? Nobody else." He demanded quietly as he griped her arms with painful intensity. Ginny gave a jerky nod.

"Yes." She whimpered.

"Good girl. It won't be as bad if you do. The Dark Lord loves being deferred to. Even if it only has to do with fear. Besides, if you didn't show your fear to him, well, he would make you." She was turned around and he tilted her face up to look her in the eye.

"Listen," he said whispered hurriedly, as the people above them finally removed all of the spells on the opening. "If I don't come back down here with you, remember what I've been teaching you. Don't give them the pleasure of breaking you." His hurried instructions worried her.

She had opened her mouth to ask what he meant by that, when he clamped a hand over her lips. Sharply, he shook his head, pointed up above them, and released her. Dumbfounded, she watched as he silently drifted back into the shadows as the Deatheaters above them wrenched open the grate.

"_Lumos_" Ginny heard a familiar voice cast the light spell directly above her head.

Ginny found herself blinking against the bright light that shone down upon them. After staying in the near dark for so long, the glaring light was making her eyes water. She blinked away the tears that formed and tried to look anywhere but up. Even with her eyes closed, the light burned into her eyelids.

"Ah, how nice of you to send room service to fix our lighting problem." Draco drawled from his side of the room. "I would award you appropriately; however, I seem to have misplaced my wand."

Ginny drew in a quick breath as she stared blindly in his direction. If she wasn't mistaken he said 'Show no fear' not, 'Make them as mad as you possibly can'. She held her breath as she waited for their response to his mocking humor. She didn't have to wait for long, in fact, she didn't have to wait at all.

"_Crucio_" snarled an angry voice from above them.

Cringing, she waited for Draco's scream of pain. It never came, but what she did hear was a loud grunt; which sounded remarkably like the one he given when she had pulled his hair. She managed to squint through the light to see him. He knelt upon the floor hunched up as if he was trying to conserve body heat. His arms and legs were shaking, she noticed, and beads of sweat where starting to appear upon his forehead and temples.

"It would seem," Draco half gasped, half gritted. "That your ability to successfully perform the Cruciatas curse has greatly improved Wormtail. However, that is not exactly saying much at all." He mocked even while he was doubled over in pain.

Ginny's gasp was thankfully covered by Wormtail's bellow of rage. She knew who Wormtail was. She couldn't count how often she had heard Harry spit out his name as a curse. Not that he didn't have good reasons. She herself had never seen the face of the betrayer of the Potter family. Now that she knew she was about to have the _very_ dubious honor, she rather wished that he would remain faceless for the rest of her life. For that matter, she wasn't exactly looking forwards to meeting You-Know-Who face-to-face either.

Pettigrew still had Draco under the Cruciatas when she felt herself inflicted with the full body bind curse. She watched helplessly as the floor rushed up to meet her unprotected face. Mentally she steeled herself for the impact… that never came. She stared at the floor, which she hovered a few inches above, in disbelief.

"Take care with that one." A familiar voice sneered. "The Dark Lord wants her in top form for tonight's exhibition."

Ginny would have collapsed out of relief, had she been able to move at all. As it was, she had a few minutes to remove the joy from her face. Snape had found her. Elation rose up within her. In no time at all, she would be reunited with her family. After that, she would be safe at Hogwarts. Joy filled her with hope, until reality pulled her back down again.

Unblinkingly she stared at the stone floor, Snape _couldn't_ rescue her. Well, at least not now. First, it was nigh impossible for him to get her out of a building filled to the brim with Deatheaters. Not to mention, evade them all after the escape. Second, as much as she would like it, she was not important enough to risk his status as a double agent. Unfortunately, she knew she was not worth that particular compromise. Professor Snape had been able to save whole families by playing 'both sides'. To risk all of that to save one person; well, at the risk of sounding like a Slytheren, her possible death would be the lesser of two evils. Not a very cheerful thought.

In her helpless position all she could do, aside from thinking depressing thoughts, was listen to the Deatheaters prepare to remove them from their cell. The labored breathing from Draco finally quit, and Ginny could only guess that Pettigrew had concluded the curse, if only to allow the prisoners to be withdrawn from the cell. With an ease that spoke of copious amounts of practice; the people above them soon had the ends of their chains freed from the wall and had them levitated up out of the dark barren cell.

Within a few seconds of reaching the hallway, Ginny found herself in a standing position holding the loose length of her own chain. Also, she realized, the full body bind curse had been lifted. She could move around on her own. Well, as much as the hand clamped painfully upon her shoulder would allow. Behind her, she heard the distinctive sound of flesh hitting flesh.

"On your feet betrayer. The Dark Lord has a special treat in store for you as well." The taunts behind her made her stomach clench with fear.

With the optimal amount of pushing and badgering of the two prisoners, Ginny and Draco found themselves being marched forwards down the hall that was almost as dark and damp as the cell had been. Three Deatheaters accompanied them on their march to Voldemort. One with each of the two captives, and one preceding them. Presumably to support either of the escorts if they had problems with their captive. She had no idea which one was Snape.

The one before her kept his hand wrapped around Draco's pale neck. Occasionally he would wrench it about suddenly from one side to another. The whole purpose of this exercise, Ginny surmised, was to make sure that he didn't forget that he was a lowly prisoner now, and not the son of a wealthy, and powerful man among their ranks.

She and her escort were last in line. In fact, she noticed, they were getting further and further last in line. They were slowing down to put distance between them and the others. She sucked in a breath. Professor Snape she thought.

"Remember your lessons." Hissed a deadly soft voice behind her, confirming her suspicions. "Do not allow your thought to betray us. Both our lives rely upon it." Great way to calm her fears, she thought sarcastically.

The rest of her trip down the long hall was spent sorting through her mind and locating only the bare necessities to hide from the Deatheater's 'Dark Lord'. In the end the only things she decided to hide was her knowledge of Snape's role in the Order and of the Order in general. She knew that Voldemort had to know about the existence of the Order, but any information he didn't have, she was not about to hand him.

After having delivered his warning, Snape urged her to speed up. They slowly caught up with the rest of the group as they winded their way through the veritable maze of corridors. She soon gave up on trying to memorize all of the turns they took; she suspected that they may have circled around more than once, probably to keep them lost and confused. Eventually, they emerged into a more used hallway. Torches glowed at regular intervals now, and the air didn't smell quite as musty here.

Sooner than she would have liked, Ginny found herself in front of a set of enormous oak double doors. Without anyone saying a word, she knew that behind the oak paneling lay everything she had ever hoped to avoid. She took a deep fortifying breath as the Deatheater in the lead brandished his wand and, with a flick, opened the gates of hell.

The room was enormous. Huge archways rose up to support a roof that had long ago fallen to the ravages of time. Ginny could see the night sky shining down from above them. The stone walls were undecorated save for the huge stained glass windows. She looked at them and bit back a gasp when she realized that they weren't in a castle at all. The Deatheaters had found an ancient cathedral church to use as their main base.

Ginny hadn't known exactly what to expect from the Deatheaters when they entered, but this, was certainly not it. She had expected to arrive in the midst of screams, chaos and cruel mocking laughter. What she was confronted with however, couldn't be further from the truth.

The first thing that came to mind was order. Deatheaters moved in perfect silence as they formed a human formed aisle for the newcomers to walk down. To the right and to the left dark robed, white masked, figures lined the walkway in a perfectly spaced formation. On occasion, she would notice an empty spot that looked as if it were simply waiting for the missing member to arrive. As they progressed further into the room, the dark members would silently close up behind them. The only direction left to go was forwards.

Ginny reminded herself of the advice Draco had given her. Show no fear. She clenched and unclenched her hands before her. On either side, Deatheaters watched on in thinly veiled anticipation. They were anxious for the blood to start flowing. Her steps faltered.

She couldn't _do this_. She was a Gryffindor yes, but still… Her heart began pounding and she started to pant for breath. She couldn't get any _air_, she was _suffocating_. Before a full-scale panic attack could consume her, she felt the hand clamped upon her shoulder give a light squeeze of reassurance. _Snape_, she wasn't alone. Ginny clung to this fact with all the tenacity she could muster. She remembered Draco's words, 'Don't give them the pleasure of breaking you.'

Since she and Snape were last in line, she didn't get a glimpse of Voldemort until the procession had spread out before him. The Dark Lord sat in a chair that sat upon a raided dais, draped with blood red velvet. He acknowledged the escorts with a slight tilt of his head. In return the three death eaters bowed low to their lord, dragging the two teenagers down with them.

Unable to look away, Ginny gazed upon the mockery of human life that was Voldemort. His abnormally white skin pulled too tight over his bones, and his face reminded her of reptile. Catlike red slanted eyes watched everything carefully and his slit like nostrils would flare every now and then, as if searching for the smell of fear. Terrified she watched at his eerily glowing red eyes fixed upon her.

"Ahhh, thank you for joining us for our little celebration." Voldemort stood from his chair upon the dais and approached Ginny. "I have waited for you. Yes, I have." His long pale fingers griped her jaw and wrenched her face up. He forced her to meet his red gaze.

Instantly Ginny felt Voldemort's assault upon her mind. She allowed her fear to flood her brain. Unmercifully he sorted through her mind looking for something, but she had no idea what. She watched as he brought up memory after memory. Playing Quidditch, talking with Ron, Harry and Hermione. Images flashed randomly one after another until he found what he was looking for. Her first year.

Tears dripped down her face as he forced her to relive that horrible year. The confusion, pain, horror, and fear welled up inside her. Again she opened that horrible book, again she would awake to find out she had no memory of certain hours. Again, she went down to open the Chamber of Secrets. _No, I won't do it_. _Yes_, a voice whispered, _you will_. _No, no_…

"NO!" Ginny screamed into the silent room. Voldemort released her suddenly and she crumpled at his feet crying.

"It would seem, that the little muggle lover still has enough resistance left within her to defy me." Voldermorts dangerously soft voice echoed around the room. "Why don't we see if we can soften her defiance with a little, entertainment shall we?" He bared his abnormally sharp teeth in a parody of a smile and turned to Draco.

"Ah, yes. You. I must congratulate you. For such a long time you have defied me." With a snap of his fingers, he motioned for two Deatheaters to step out of line. "Hold him."

Ginny watched as the two dark cloaked figures grabbed onto Draco. He fought wildly, his feet lashed out at anyone he could make contact with, and Ginny saw him bite hard enough to draw blood on one Deateaters hand. The battle showed no sign of letting up until Wormtail bared his silver right hand and wrapped it around Draco's throat, slowly squeezing off his air supply. He unwillingly stopped struggling as he received less and less air to breath. Roughly, they bared his left forearm for their Dark Lord. During all the commotion, she found herself jerked up to a standing position.

"You have had the chance to accept the dark mark on two occasions." Voldemort began as he extracted his wand from his robes. "Both times you foolishly refused. This time you _will_ receive the dark mark. You were pledged into my service upon your birth. You belong to _me_, and I will mark what is _mine_." He wrapped one bony hand around Draco's wrist and placed the tip of his wand against his exposed forearm.

Ginny watched in horror as a writhing blackness oozed from the tip of the wand. When it dripped on his arm, Draco gasped in pain. The stench of burning flesh filled the air as the dark blob fought to enter under the skin to the vulnerable forearm. Just as Ginny was about to close her eyes to the horror, she spied a green and silver shadow creeping along the bottom of the arm. Fascinated she watched as it crouched in readiness to spring. The moment the acidic darkness breached the skin Draco let out a howl of agonizing pain.

He jerked wildly in the Deatheaters hold. They had to recruit another member to hold him still as the dark mark branded itself to him. During the mild struggle, Ginny lost sight of the little dragon. However, when it reappeared she was not the only one that noticed it. Suddenly, bright ink flames covered Draco's arm, startling everyone who was close. As the flames died down Ginny spotted the little fighter attacking the darkness that was attempting to invade it's territory.

Fearlessly it clawed and snapped as the writhing darkness took the form of a long black snake. The two tattoos fought fiercely, rolling in a multi colored flash of ink across Draco's arm. Ginny watched on in amazement. She had never even _heard_ of something like this happening! As suddenly as the fight began, it was over. With an agile lung, the little dragon caught the snake behind its head, and snapped the snake's neck. Then, to everyone's surprise, it began to eat the snake.

There was a long pause as the dragon finished the snake, and then marched victoriously over to the spot the snake had entered and lay down. The green and silver dragon then eyed everyone as he fearlessly blew black ink smoke rings at one of the world's greatest, and evil, wizard.

(Author's Note)

Hi, I know that it has been a while, but I wanted this chapter to be worth reading. (I also have about half of the next one written as well)

Er… I have a question to the long time members of I was looking into posting a new story when I double-checked the rules of posting FanFiction, I discovered that, after I posted this one they made a new rule that prohibited separate chapters for author notes. Should I reload every single chapter, or should I just delete the whole story and repost it? I am unsure what the correct procedure would be, so… if _you_ know, let _me_ know ok?

Anyway thank you readers and reviewers! You make this worth doing! Hugs for everyone!

Questions? I answer!


	9. Sacrifices

I am ALIVE! I am _Sooo_ sorry for the lack of update. I haven't quit it. Just… er… procrastinating again. A small warning… parts of this chapter are quite a bit darker. I don't think it warrant's a rise in rating, but you have been warned. I have put a few notes to the reviewers on the bottom. (If you are interested.) Well thanks for bearing with me.

Aleigh Walker

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_Last night I looked up into the endless black sky,_

_And realized what I was,_

_And perhaps what I was not._

_The things that I have not done,_

_Reflect the person I am perhaps,_

_Even more than the things I have._

_Last night I looked up into the endless black sky,_

_And was not ashamed._

_Amber Evans_

**Sacrifices**

Seconds stretched into infinity in the aftermath of the miniscule battle between the two tattoos. At first, nobody spoke or moved as they tried to register the impossible. The dark mark had been repelled. The Deatheaters collectively held their breath as they waited for Voldemort's response to this unexpected defiance. To refuse the Dark Lord was to invite death.

Ginny watched in horror as Voldemort grew livid with anger. His lips pulled back into a snarl, baring his unnaturally sharp teeth. Glowing eyes burned inexplicably bright as Voldemort dove into the depths of Draco's mind. She watched his face contort with pain as You-Know-Who investigated his brain. With a roar of frustration, the Dark Lord pulled out of Draco's mind.

"Who gave you the mark of the dragon?" He demanded as he jabbed his wand into the soft skin behind Draco's jaw below his ear. "Who protects you?" Voldemort snarled as random sparks emitted form the tip of the wand.

"I don't know." Gasped Draco in pain.

"Tell me." Voldemort threatened. The tip of his wand was arching radically now.

When Draco remained defiantly silent, Ginny felt certain that she would be returning to the cell by her self. Abruptly Voldemort drew back and released Draco, allowing him to slide to the floor. Giving him a momentary reprieve.

"So be it." Voldermort spat out coldly. His eyes glittered with a mixture of anticipation and malice that made Ginny recoil as far as Snap's grasp would allow.

Voldemort turned and issued forth a horrifying combination of hissing and spiting. The hairs on the back of Ginny's neck and arms raised themselves in protest. She knew he was talking to a snake. She bit back a protesting cry. She _hated_ snakes. She hated the sound of someone speaking to them. Parseltounge.

A rustling sound reached her ears before the actual appearance of the large snake. She watched as the nose poked around the back of the raised platform that they were standing before. A chocked gasp escaped past her lips. The snake was _huge_. Ginny estimated it must be at least twelve feet long. Perhaps even longer. She was unsure because of the undulating motion of the moving snake. It slithered up to Voldemort and placed its head directly under his outstretched hand.

"Nagini is always willing to take care of any fool that I have no intention of myself troubled with." He gently caressed the snake's raised head. In return, the huge snake gently flicked his arm with her tongue. Great. It liked him. This could not possibly be good.

With a few hissing noises from Voldemort, Nagini left her position by his side and approached the still kneeling form of Draco. The large snake bared her fangs at him. Ginny watched him struggle to his feet as the Deatheaters near him backed up. Presumably to get away from the serpent predator. For once Ginny completely agreed with her captors.

When Nagini had completely encircled Draco, Ginny found herself thrust into the arms of a nearby Deatheater by Snape. She watched in disbelief as he actually stepped over the tail of the advancing serpent. He knelt at the feet of the Dark Lord, silently requesting permission to speak.

"You dare beg for the traitors life?" Voldemort asked softly, addressing Snape's prone form in a dangerous undertone.

"No my Lord." Professor Snape replied calmly as he waited for permission to explain his actions.

For several seconds Voldemort said nothing as he silently judged the kneeling figure before him. It wasn't entirely unknown for You-Know-Who to torture one of his followers for much much less. With no small measure of relief to Ginny, he finally nodded.

"Speak." He flicked his hand in a gesture that allowed Snape to rise and address him.

"It occurred to me, my Lord, that he could be susceptible to more than one type of bite. He can still be forced to serve you." With one hand, he gestured behind him to a figure in the back.

"Ahh. I see. Greyback." He beckoned, his expression thoughtful as he watched Snape drop back to allow the approaching Deatheater to take his place.

From the corner of her eye, Ginny caught sight of the Deatheater in question. He looked as if he was some sort of 'wild-man' crammed into his black robes. He was seemingly too tall, too wide for the standard robes issued to Deatheaters. His hair lay in tangled greasy locks on his back and his teeth and nails were decidedly yellow.

As she watched him move across the floor, Ginny felt her skin prickle. He walked… oddly. Ginny had the disturbing impression of a wild animal stalking it's prey. He was a werewolf, she realized with horrified fascination. When he reached Voldemort he simply nodded and stood in the spot that Snape had just vacated. No other gesture seemed necessary or expected on his part.

"Do you think your ranks could use this?" Voldemort asked as he gestured to Draco, who was still held prisoner by Nagini.

"Well," Greyback rasped, "I'm sure I could use him fore something. With a few improvements of course." His rasping voice gave way to barking laughter. Hands tightened convulsively upon her shoulders as the Deatheater holding her flinched involuntarily.

"Very well, it is settled." He turned to Draco and Nagini. "You shall have the honor to serve me after all. Nagini, come." Even without speaking in Parseltounge the large snake must have understood him, for she released Draco and slithered back the way she had come and disappeared behind the dais.

Free of the snake, Draco picked up the end of his chain and idly swung it in a circle. The reaction from Greyback was immediate. He bared his teeth and growled at Draco. Several of the Deatheaters near Draco stepped back even further. Greyback dodged the swinging chain and wrapped one hand around Draco's neck.

"Don't get cocky pup." He growled. "The only reason you haven't been bit yet, is because we keep sending in the new recruits. They still have a hard time telling their teeth from their tail. This time you won't be so lucky." With his free hand, he ripped the silver chain out of Draco's grip. Ginny noticed that he ignored the pain as the silver burned his exposed skin.

"Is he the only one this moon?" Greyback asked the Dark Lord. "What about that one?" with a jerk of his head he indicated Ginny who was still being held by the two unknown Deatheaters.

"If she is changed, it is of no concern." Voldemort gave a negligent shrug. "However, if you accidentally kill her, the repercussions will not be pleasant." He paused as he gave Ginny a measuring glance. "I still have plans for her."

After he spoke, a black robed figure pushed through the ranks and approached the dais. Everyone looked at him expectantly.

"They are here my Lord." The Deatheater bowed low in respect. Voldemort nodded in acknowledgement.

"Excellent." His gaze settled upon Ginny once again. "I expect you will find this very informative." He delivered a mocking parody of a smile. "Chain them to the wall. Let them watch for a while."

She soon found herself being unceremoniously drug across the room to a neighboring wall. Once there, they chained them to the awaiting rings. As soon as they were secure, the Deatheaters ignored them and started back to the main cluster of people near Voldemort. Beside her Draco rubbed at his neck while grumbling about permanent fingerprints.

From across the hall an ear-piercing scream filled the room. Ginny jumped in surprise and looked at Draco in question. A rousing cheer erupted from the group of black clad wizards and witches.

"Draco, what's going on?" she asked worriedly. If it made the Deatheaters cheer, then she wanted _no_ part of it.

"Entertainment. When they have a successful hit, they always bring some back to 'enjoy' at their leisure." He said grimly.

"They are going to torture people in front of us?" she asked horrified.

"In a word, yes." Draco's words came out clipped and his face was strained as he stared fixedly ahead.

Ginny followed his gaze across the room and watched as the new prisoners were brought out to stand before Voldemort. There were about fifteen of them in all. Each one more terrified than the next. She noticed that they were all women and children. Presumably, the men had been killed on the spot.

She watched as a few of the women were taken out of the group and passed out into the sea of black robes. They tried in vain to stay with the group as they were inevitably separated. Ginny quickly lost sight of the dispersed women. Judging from the cried of fear and pain, mixed with the laughter and cheers of the Deatheaters, she wasn't sure she actually wanted to see them.

One woman still with the main group clutched her child tightly in her arms and looked around wildly. The boy must have been about five, and he gazed at the room over his mother's shoulders with wide innocent eyes. She turned and whispered something in his ear and he nodded in response.

Ginny watched her search for a possible exit and then her body stiffened as she took a good look at the figure upon the dais before her. For a long moment, the woman simply stared at him. Obviously not completely believing what she was seeing. After all, things like him didn't exist in her world. At least, not that _she_ knew of.

She rubbed the boy's back as he clung to her in fear. Further back in the crowd, another yell sparked her into action. After taking a deep breath, she approached Voldemort. From their removed positions, Ginny and Draco couldn't hear the actual words that she said, but it was obvious from the tone that she was begging for her and the child's life. Voldemorts response was laughter. Ginny huddled closer to the wall at her back even as she watched the young woman back up towards the rest of the group, and relative safety.

"Deatheaters." Voldemort's voice carried magically over the din of the chamber. "This one has begged me to not touch her child. She has offered her life in exchange." There were a few evil chuckles over this. Ginny heard the woman issue a few urgent words to the Dark Lord, and he nodded slyly.

"She in fact demands that no-one touches her child. Gracious lord that I am, I have decided to grant her this one last boon." The woman in question sagged visibly in relief seemingly oblivious to the chuckles of the surrounding Deatheaters.

"Release the boy." He commanded.

Slowly she knelt down upon one knee. One last time she hugged her son and kissed him on the cheek. After brushing her eyes with the back of her hand, she whispered her last few words to her child and hugged him tight again before she stood. With a gentle push, she propelled him away from her.

"How touching." The mocking words rang forcibly throughout the hall. "Are you ready?" he asked and was answered with a small nod from the woman.

The first sign that something was horribly wrong had been the Deatheater's laughter during the announcement. The second, was the fact that she had been given time to say goodbye to her son. The third, and most obvious sign, was the fact that Voldemort drew his wand. He pointed his wand at the little boy.

"IMPERIO" The spell was directed at the young boy. Ginny watched the spark of life ebb from his body. "Nott, give the child a knife." Voldemort instructed.

The mother looked on in growing horror as Nott handed her young son a wicked looking knife. She turned and asked Voldemort a question that made him laugh. Ginny cringed; she couldn't think of a worse sound than that of his laughter.

"Kill your mother." He gleefully instructed the child.

Ginny tried to turn her head away, but somehow she found herself unable too. As the child approached his mother, she backed slowly away, trying unsuccessfully to reason with him. During her retreat, she wound up coming closer and closer to the two chained to the wall. They could clearly hear her trying to reason with her own son, ignorant of the reasons he was suddenly obeying a complete stranger.

"We had a deal. If you fail to uphold your part of the bargain, I shall have no choice but to do likewise." Voldemort's cold voice made the woman freeze in her tracks.

The look on the lady's face was contorted in hatred as she looked at the cause of all of her pain. As her gaze shifted to her son, her face softened and a few stray tears slipped down her cheek. Astonishingly she once again knelt upon the stone floor. Frozen, Ginny could only watch helplessly as she opened her arms wide to welcome her child.

Their was surprisingly little sound as the knife slid smoothly into her chest cavity. Aside from her initial cry of pain, she said nothing else as she wrapped her arms around her son. For a long moment neither of them moved. Then the boy pulled back and pulled on the knife stuck in his mother's chest. Lacking the strength to pull the weapon cleanly out, he twisted and jerked on the knife until it finally pulled free.

The sucking noise was almost completely masked by her cry of pain. Without the knife to plug the hole, blood flooded out of her in alarming rates. She clamped her hand over the flowing wound and then brought it up to her face and stared at the red smear in shock. Judging from the flow of blood, her heart had been hit. In a minute, she had fallen over onto her side and silently gazed at her son as her blood carpeted the stone floor.

Across the room, Voldemort stood and approached her rapidly fading form. He halted in her line of sight next to the boy.

"Your life in exchange for me not touching the boy was it not?" he questioned cagily. He turned and pointed his wand at her child once again. Her eyes widened in horrified realization.

"Avada Kedavra" he purred gleefully.

She watched as her son instantly crumpled and landed at Voldemort's feet. She looked into her son's lifeless eyes as her own life faded. She gave one last shuddering breath and was still.

The resounding cheer from the Deatheaters shook the stone columns. Ginny could only stare in horror at the two still forms upon the cold stone floor. Things like this weren't supposed to happen. They just weren't. Unbidden, Draco's earlier words echoed through her mind.

_Evil wins. And if it doesn't, then the price is too high. Still evil is not defeated. _That_ is the way the world works._

_NO_. She didn't believe it. She wouldn't, couldn't believe it.

"NO!" she screamed as she launched herself at the nearest Deatheater.

She was vaguely aware of Draco at her side, slamming his fist into the face of the one she had tackled. She felt someone grab a hold of her foot and pull. Screaming in rage, she turned on them. Through the sheen of tears, she swung, scratched and bit at anything near her. For a brief instant, she noticed the lack of grabbing hands. Then she felt was the pain.

Waves upon waves of agony coursed through her as an unknown person continued to apply the Cruciatas upon her. Sheer torment coursed through her body repeatedly, until she feared the pain would snap her spine as she writhed upon the floor. In the distance, she thought she heard herself screaming, but she couldn't tell over the pain.

Somewhere between her first scream and her last, Ginny vowed to make certain that every single Deatheater paid for their crimes. If it took the very last breath in her body to see it done, she would pay that price gladly. She clung to that thought with all her might as her world once again faded to black.

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A dark cloaked figure glided down the darkly lit halls with the unconscious forms of Ginny and Draco following in the air behind. After glancing in the direction he had come from Snape took off his mask and lowered the hood of his cloak. Gently, he set the two bodies upon the stone floor. He approached Draco, knelt down and revived him.

Abruptly awake, Draco shot into a sitting position ready for anything. He spied Snape mutely studying him and relaxed slightly. Snape stood and offered an arm to assist Draco up off the floor. After a pause, Draco took it.

"Long time no see, Professor." Draco said evenly as he straitened and wiped a drop of blood from the corner of his mouth. He looked down at the red smear across his thumb and frowned.

"I think that the bloody brutes over did it." He complained.

"You think so?" questioned Snape condescendingly. Draco ignored him.

"What do you want Snape?" Draco asked, and then he frowned in worry. "Has anything happened to the Queen?" He looked troubled at this possibility.

"The Queen is still ruler of all she surveys." Snape answered reassuringly. "Nothing has changed."

Tension drained from Draco's frame as he accepted this new information. He acknowledged Snape with a curt nod and walked over to Ginny's unconscious form. Kneeling at her side, he gently pressed two fingers to the side of her neck to check her pulse. Satisfied with what he found, he stood again and turned to face Snape.

"So why arrange this meeting if the Queen is fine? Miss me that much?" mocked Draco.

"I have an assignment for you." Snape withdrew an object from a hidden pocket in his robe and tossed it to Draco.

Draco reflexively snatched it out of mid-air. In shock, he gaped at it. His gaze swung alternately from the thing he was holding, to Ginny lying helpless on the stone floor, and then to Snape who was watching him with great interest.

"What is the meaning of this?" Draco demanded as he clenched the object tight in his fist.

"I want you to use it to take care of the Gryffindor." Snape drawled.

Draco swung around to look at Ginny again; he then turned back to Snape in surprise. "When?" he managed to choke out.

"Don't use it now," Snape instructed. "You will know when the right time is." He then tuned his back and continued to escort them back to their cell without another word.

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To everyone who liked the dragon. Thanks, I like him too. And, he will be back!

**Anna**: I DO appreciate honest feedback. I looked at the book and then at my story, and… your right. However, I find that I honestly don't know how to fix it. I suppose the problem is with the way I view him. He is a one-dimensional character to me. I can sum him up with two thoughts. One, he's bad. Two, Harry has to kill him. Still I did try to make him a little bit more menacing in this chapter. Hopefully I did a _little_ better at least.

Did you know, I had first envisioned a eight or nine chapter long story…. It's GROWING on me! (Sheepish shrug)


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